It is known in such spinning reels, to provide a means for switching the spinning reel between a free spool state in which the spool shaft is decoupled from a drag mechanism, and is free to rotate, and a drag state in which the spool shaft is operatively connected to a drag mechanism and inhibited from rotating.
One such spinning reel is described in U.S. Pat. No 5,511,735. The mechanism described in the specification of that patent is complicated and there are a large number of moving parts and assemblies associated with switching the reel from a drag condition to a free spool condition. The complexity of the design of the spinning reel shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,735 both in terms of the component design and the number of components makes the reel expensive to manufacture and unnecessarily complicated.
A number of different designs of spinning reels which also have a free spool function are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,077 which share the same problems as U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,735 in terms of the complication and consequent expense of the components and the overall design.
The present invention seeks to provide a simpler design which is easier and cheaper to manufacture.